Recipes & Writings by Vicki Shanta Retelny, RDN

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Bison Oat Meatballs & Penne Marinara

Happy 2017! Now that we rolled into another year, let’s take a look at some ways to make healthy living easier with #healthyhacks or tips to simplify your lifestyle efforts. From eating more fruits and veggies to cooking more at home to bringing healthful snacks and lunch with you on-the-go, there are many simple changes you can make every day that will lead to big, health results.

One of my favorite #healthyhacks for portion control and weight management is to use a food scale!

A healthy hack that can do wonders with portion control is to use a food scale – not only does it help control how much you eat, but it tells you if you are eating enough. Keep in mind, under eating can be just as bad as overeating from a nutritional standpoint. A good example is protein – are you getting enough at meals? Recent research shows that adults, especially as we get older – into mid-life, need at least 25 – 30 grams for protein at every meal for build and repair muscle mass. (Take a quick read at my article on protein.) A trick to know if you are eating enough protein is to put it on a food scale.

How much protein is in your food? Well, it varies. A good rule of thumb: 7 grams per one ounce of meat, poultry, fish or in a large egg or 2 ounces of Dreamfields pasta; 6 grams of protein in ½ cup of beans, ¼ cup quinoa; 18 grams in 6 ounce of plain Greek yogurt.

If you measure your food (not all the time, but when cooking at home), then you can better estimate how much you are actually eating at a meal. In this dish, if you make each meatball about one ounce – than enjoy three meatballs (21 grams of protein) and a serving of pasta (7 grams of protein) to amp up your protein at this meal, yet go about it in a portion controlled way! (Bison is a lean meat and high quality source of protein).

Welcome!

Hi there, I am Vicki.

As a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), I am a hopeless real food romantic. I’d love to inspire you to fall in love with nourishing, real food and satisfy your cravings simply. Thanks for joining me on my blog and in my kitchen!